Nathan Yoder

Live a story that you would want to read.

I grew up in a small town. I didn't know a bunch of big influential people, my parents weren't known for anything remarkable. This led me into thinking I couldn't do much. After graphic design school, I took a job in an advertising agency, and that's about as far as my dreams were going to take me. I made myself comfortable, and settled. This is what my life was going to look like.

Society nowadays is all about comfort. It's telling us that we deserve the easy way. I don't think any great thing was ever done by just taking it easy. I was becoming sick of the way of life I was falling into. I saw my dreams fading away, and it scared me.

That's when I found my purpose in life. And it's about inspiring people, helping them see their own purpose, understand why they are even here on this Earth. And my tool to do that is art. Say if I show somebody a drawing, and they get excited, and it inspires them to go home and write a song, or draw, or whatever... That's when I get excited. Anytime I inspire someone to be a better artist, or to be a better person, it gets me closer to my goal.

Finding my purpose gave me the motivation to get out of my comfort zone. I started drawing again, quit my job, moved to California, became a full time illustrator, and started a life that I love.

If you can get out of your comfort zone and find the thing that you're passionate about, you’re going to want to work hard for it.

You hear people saying « Do what you love, and you won’t have to work another day in your life ». That’s true, but at the end of the day, there’s still going to be those days where it is work.
And if you don’t know why you’re doing it, if you don’t have something that you can look down the road at, your life purpose, you won't find the motivation to work in those moments.

It’s kind of a cliché, but you can get out of your comfort zone and create your own story. Live a story that you would want to read.

Enjoy the process

In preparation for the launch of Yondr Studio, Nathan worked with Brandon Wall and Mark Anderson on a short film speaking into the idea of enjoying the process, never be searching for the end of the road and enjoy the journey. This is the piece that he worked on in the video.